It is one thing to express strong views about an issue affecting nonprofit missions in the privacy of the board room or among like-minded people. To really advance the mission, however, it is necessary to give voice, publicly, to those views. Three state association leaders did just that in recent weeks through articles in their local newspapers. Each took public stands for their missions and the work of nonprofits:

Mary Ellen Jackson, President & CEO of the New Hampshire Center for Nonprofits, penned “My Turn: Taxing nonprofits is a lose-lose situation,” published in the Concord (NH) Monitor, on February 4. New Hampshire legislators are once again considering a bill mandating that nonprofit charitable organizations with revenue greater than $10 million be taxed under the state’s Business Enterprise Tax. Jackson explains that the bill, “if passed, will result in a loss in revenue for the state, a loss in revenue for charitable organizations, and, most importantly, a loss for people and communities.” She points out that “nonprofits such as Easter Seals, Goodwill, Gateways Community Services, Nashua’s Harbor Homes and others who serve our most vulnerable families will need to come up with revenue to pay this hefty tax,” forcing them “to either curb services or raise more money each year to pay this tax.” 

In neighboring Maine, Scott Schnapp, Executive Director of the Maine Association of Nonprofits, is taking issue, publicly, with the Governor’s plan of repealing property-tax exemption for property owned by tax-exempt nonprofits. In “Another View: Hospitals aren’t the only nonprofits affected by LePage’s budget plan,” in the Portland (ME) Press Herald, January 29, Schnapp helps nonprofits and the general public understand how the proposal to allow municipalities to tax nonprofits with property valued above $500,000 “would undoubtedly result in staffing cuts that would diminish services for vulnerable populations and reduce programs that Maine residents rely on and value.” He also corrected the misinformation that the proposal would only apply permit “taxing large nonprofits,” pointing out that the Governor’s plan would also affect “social service agencies, land trusts, educational institutions and organizations that provide healthy outlets for young people, to name just a few.”

Readers may recall that the Maine Governor asserted in November that Maine nonprofits “don’t pay their fair share,” and that “they are takers, not givers.” Schnapp and the Maine Association of Nonprofits have been aggressive in pushing back against this mindset and this proposal.

Heading west from the Northeast, we take note of the article “Charity Inc.: Advocacy for nonprofits,” (Oklahoma City The Journal Record, February 4) by Marnie Taylor, President & CEO,Oklahoma Center for Nonprofits. Writing at the start of the Oklahoma legislative session, Taylor encourages “all nonprofits, large and small, to dedicate time and resources to advocacy and public policy.” Here’s more good advice: “Nonprofit leaders and volunteers should be able to show the public and our policymakers how their missions not only affect the lives they serve but how they save taxpayer dollars, help the economy and improve the state’s standards compared with other states.”

These three leaders are modelling the way for advancing the missions of nonprofits by advocating through the news media.